It was one of the defining images of a memorable day for Liverpool.
Carabao Cup winners medals around their necks, smiles etched on their faces, Jayden Danns and Bobby Clark looked like young men who couldn’t quite believe what had happened to them.
Yet their pride was nothing compared to that of their fathers looking down from the stands at Wembley. Lee Clark and Neil Danns, admired professional players in their own right, were instrumental in developing Bobby and Jayden into two of Liverpool’s unlikely heroes against Chelsea.
Here, they tell the story behind their sons’ rise — and how it made them feel.
Lee Clark, father of Bobby: ‘I tried to win a cup for 20 years – he’s already done it’
Lee Clark couldn’t hold back the emotion at Wembley after watching his son Bobby lift the Carabao Cup.
“There were tears of joy. I’m still up in the clouds,” he says. “He’s so young to win the first trophy of what we hope will be a long and distinguished career. I tried for more than 20 years and never did it — he’s done it already.”
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Lee, a former Newcastle United and Fulham midfielder, believes his family owe a huge debt of gratitude to Jurgen Klopp for the opportunities he has given Bobby, who turned 19 this month. Sunday was his ninth first-team appearance and he produced an eye-catching midfield display after replacing Conor Bradley in the second half.
“The manager showed unbelievable trust to put him on in such a big game at an important moment and it wasn’t a one-off,” Lee adds. “He also did it in the FA Cup at Arsenal and the second leg of the League Cup semi-final against Fulham at Craven Cottage. He’s such an inspirational manager. He’s been massive in terms of Bobby’s development.
“The players have so much respect for him and he treats them all the same — from the youngest to the biggest superstar. Playing the kids was normal for him.”
Bobby’s journey started in the youth ranks at Birmingham City, when his father was manager of the club between 2012 and 2014. Jobe Bellingham, who now plays for Sunderland, was in the same age group, with Real Madrid and England star Jude two years above.
“He was playing for a local village team when the Birmingham scout asked if he would be interested in coming along to the academy,” Clark recalled. “His mum pointed out to the scout that he was the first-team manager’s son — he had no idea! He came on his own merits. Bobby became close with the Bellingham boys. He was really enjoying it when I lost my job.”
GO DEEPER
Bobby Clark: The Liverpool U18s recruit who scored on his debut and has been in demand since the age of nine
After the family relocated to the north east of England, Bobby chose to move to Newcastle United, his dad’s first love and where he stayed for six years.
Lee’s managerial career, which took him to Blackpool, Kilmarnock, Bury and Blyth Spartans before stints overseas in Sudan and Oman, meant that he missed a lot of Bobby’s youth football but he received a succession of rave reviews.
“I’d get calls from ex-team-mates or friends working in football saying they had seen him and thought he was a really good player. Sometimes you think they’re just being nice but when I came out of football, I could watch him on a more regular basis and realised what people had been telling me was true. I thought in the right environment he might have a chance.”
Three years ago, before signing a first professional contract, Bobby decided the time was right to leave Newcastle. There was interest from Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Leeds United among others, but Liverpool went the extra mile to get him on board. They agreed to pay an initial fee of around £750,000 ($950,000 at today’s rates), potentially rising to £1.5million, for the England youth international.
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“He had stopped enjoying his football and that was tough because previously you couldn’t stop him from being outside in the garden with a ball at his feet,” Clark said. “It was Bobby’s decision. I thought it might get a bit messy but Newcastle accepted bids from three or four clubs much quicker than I thought.
“Liverpool were constantly making sure that Bobby knew how much they wanted him. He went down there for a few days and spent time at the AXA (training centre) and Anfield. They blew him away with how much they knew about him. Everyone was involved from Jurgen to (academy director) Alex Inglethorpe and (chief scout) Barry Hunter. They told him he was being signed to become a first-team player, not to help the under-18s or under-21s. It was the only place he wanted to go.”
Initially, Bobby lived with family close to St Helens, just east of Liverpool, along with fellow academy youngsters Stefan Bajcetic, Owen Beck and Bradley. The quartet established a close bond. Bobby has since moved out into his own apartment in Liverpool.
Before moving to Merseyside, he was already well versed in the history and tradition of the club, with Anfield great Terry McDermott a close family friend.
“He’s spent a lot of time in Terry’s company and he’s seen his medal collection,” Lee says. “I played for three of the most iconic Liverpool names in Kevin Keegan, Kenny Dalglish and Graeme Souness, so Bobby was well aware of the stature of the place he was joining.
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“He’s lucky to have been surrounded by so many top pros since he joined Liverpool — watching how they behave, how they prepare. And then you’ve also got the strong bond between the youngsters, who are always congratulating each other after each success one of them has with the first team. That’s a credit to how the academy operates.”
After scoring 13 goals for the under-18s in 2021-22, Clark was promoted to Barry Lewtas’ under-21s squad last season. In August 2022, at 17, Klopp handed Clark his Premier League bow off the bench in the 9-0 rout of Bournemouth and then a first start against Derby County in the Carabao Cup that November.
A stress-related injury down the side of his leg hampered him in the opening months of this season. However, in December, Liverpool gave him a five-year contract and since the turn of the year, he has made seven appearances as a substitute. A loan offer from Derby was rejected in January.
“My time these days is divided between being a Newcastle United supporter and supporting Bobby,” Lee adds. “One of the reasons I’ve decided not to be a manager anymore is that I want to be there for him. It helps that I’ve played and I’ve also managed so I can talk to Bobby if he needs any advice. There are times when we just sit and talk about football in general, not him personally.
“What we’re seeing now is that he can handle it in terms of the physicality, which is a big thing for a young player. He just wants more and more. He knows this is just the start of it.”
James Pearce
Neil Danns, father of Jayden: ‘I want him to live out his dreams’
The question to Neil Danns is obvious but still worth asking: is this a family dream come true?
“It’s even more than that,” Danns replied, sitting high up in the Liverpool section of Wembley on Sunday evening. “It’s just amazing.”
Danns, now assistant manager at League Two Tranmere Rovers, had just seen his 18-year-old son, Jayden, collect his Carabao Cup winners’ medal.
This was far more than just a token appearance: Jayden was on the field for 35 minutes, including extra time, and came close to scoring twice — once with a header, and then again from close range with five minutes remaining.
It was enough for Klopp to call his performance “insane” and offer Jayden a trademark bearhug as Liverpool’s joyous players danced around them after the club’s 1-0 win. “I loved him from the first second I saw him,” Klopp added later.
Before Wembley, Jayden’s only other appearance for Liverpool had been a cameo from the bench at Anfield against Luton Town four days earlier, when he helped set up Harvey Elliott for Liverpool’s fourth goal. But at academy level, Danns has been a standout performer, scoring 21 goals for the club he has represented since the age of eight.
Jayden was scouted while playing futsal at Edge Hill Tennis Centre in Ormskirk, Lancashire. Everton and Manchester United had expressed interest in him but his heart was always set on Liverpool, the club he has supported all his life.
His journey to the first team is even more impressive as he missed almost a year of football aged 15 because of Osgood-Schlatter’s disease, which causes an aching pain in the knee for growing teenagers, after going from 5ft 2in to 6ft (157cm to 183cm). “Liverpool knew how to handle that,” says Danns Snr, 41, who played as a midfielder for, among others, Crystal Palace, Bolton Wanderers and Blackpool. “Even from a mental side, as he was so young. He was a late developer, so Liverpool didn’t push him too quickly. He’s getting the fruit of his hard work now.”
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He added: “It was a proud moment, overwhelming. I was there with his younger brother, Kaylen, 15, sister, Hayla, 13, my partner (Jayden’s mum), and his Nan. So it was a really amazing time for the family and emotional for me, but you have to hide it. I’m just so happy and proud of him. We’re a family full of Liverpool fans, we’re all Reds.
“You think you’ve hit one high when he makes his debut on Wednesday and then it’s another next level, it’s crazy. I’m proud of him but the journey has just started and he knows he’s got a lot of hard work in front of him.
“Scoring the winner would have been a dream — but it was a dream anyway. It’s just good he’s getting himself into positions at that level where he’s making himself a threat, which is good for his learning and development.
Proud dad 🔴🔴🔴 #LFC pic.twitter.com/I2DNpP8s1t
— Dannzy1 (@dannzy1) May 19, 2022
“Everyone involved in the academy has done a fantastic job. With the amount of talent you see coming through, that’s a testament to all the people like Alex Inglethorpe, Vitor Matos, Nick Marshall, Mike Yates – they all play a role there.
“I did some coaching there a couple of years ago before I became a manager myself (at Macclesfield Town). I saw at close quarters how good the work they do is and there’s no better manager in charge of the club. Jurgen has shown how much he believes in the kids. All the young lads know if they work hard enough, there’s no reason it can’t be them.”
Danns Jnr, who attended Rainhill High School 12 miles east of Liverpool, said he used to get compared to Roberto Firmino as he liked to drop in and pick up the ball as a deep-lying centre-forward. However in the last couple of years, as he’s grown more physical, he’s started to run in behind more and trust in his pace and prowess in front of goal.
His work ethic, so evident on Sunday, has been learned from his father. “If I didn’t have him, there’d be moments where I didn’t want to practise and it isn’t drilled into my head,” he said. “Now I think I’m into that routine where it’s hard to fail if you really want it that much. My mum helps with the diet and that side as well. I’m in debt for the rest of my life really.”
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Danns Snr, a friend of boxer Tony Bellew, is reluctant to take credit for his son’s success but admitted the lessons of his own career could serve as a useful guide to Jayden.
“You can make mistakes, whether that’s on or off the pitch,” he said. “Having been a player myself for 22 years, anything I see or think can help him, I’m always going to do that. But I just want him to live out his dreams.”
That first senior appearance at Anfield last week was another one realised, and was an early taste of how Premier League football can turn even rookies into viral sensations. After the final whistle, Luton manager Rob Edwards approached Jayden and Klopp and pointed to the youngster, apparently highlighting that he had played against Danns Snr.
“I played against his dad!”
Rob Edwards got a brilliant reaction out of Jurgen Klopp after reminding him that he’d once faced 18-year-old Jayden Danns’ father on the pitch! 😅 pic.twitter.com/BKV5BeS1rj
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) February 22, 2024
The clip has clocked up millions of views, although Danns Snr — who also played for Liverpool’s youth team before joining Blackburn — is keen to set the record straight here.
“Everyone thought that he said he played against me,” he explained. “But he actually played with me. We were at Lilleshall (at the FA’s former National School of Excellence) and we lived together for two years. It was when the top 16 youngsters in the country got picked. We were in the same year — him, Jermain Defoe and I. Joe Cole was in the year above. He messaged me the day after the game to say congratulations which was very nice. Rob’s always had that personality to go and have an amazing career.”
Success seems to follow the Danns clan around. Neil’s daughter, Hayla, 13, represented the UK in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in November as part of the group STAND UNIQU3 with the song Back To Life. She’d also appeared in the Voice Kids UK in the summer. By doing so, she emulated her grandad, Neil Snr, a backing singer and dancer on Rikki’s Only the Light, the UK’s entry in the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest. He was also a European title-winning skateboarder.
“It’s been a very busy year for me,” chuckled Danns, a keen musician himself.
With Liverpool back in action tomorrow night in the FA Cup at home to Southampton, Danns Jnr may get another opportunity to showcase his talents and put his team one step closer to a Wembley return.
Tom Burrows
(Top photos courtesy of Lee Clark and Neil Danns)